Study Abroad & Exchange Programs

We want you to go away -- literally! For history majors, as for all students, study abroad is a great opportunity for academic enhancement, cultural enrichment and personal growth. And it's a blast.

Study abroad is for everyone! The Department of History strongly encourages all undergraduates to travel and study abroad during their time at Purdue. Options range widely in terms of time commitment and cost -- but financial aid is available. It's an investment that can pay off handsomely in the long run: today's employers pay special heed to applicants with significant cross-cultural experience.

Types of Programs

Departmental Study Abroad programs, led by Purdue history professors or other Purdue professors, offer a chance to look around overseas in a relatively encapsulated fashion. Spring Break and Maymester courses are offered nearly every year. Such courses feature an intensive learning environment with Purdue faculty members. See below for current availability.

Exchange programs allow students to study directly at foreign universities (yes, including Canada) for a price comparable to Purdue's own tuition. Purdue has exchange agreements in place with universities across the globe, from Strasbourg, France to Monterrey, Mexico to Tsinghua University in China. Some programs require foreign language competency, but there's always Australia, New Zealand, Britain, or Ireland!

Co-sponsored programs organized by other American universities, or by various international consortia, offer English-language courses in a variety of foreign locales. Students can typically choose among summer, semester-long, or year-long options. Such programs are designed with the needs of American students in mind, featuring courses in a number of different academic disciplines; so they are especially useful for sophomores or juniors seeking to complete distribution requirements in the College of Liberal Arts curriculum.

Summer internships in London and Sydney are offered by Purdue's Study Abroad staff. Such internships offer first-hand work experience and can also earn college credit in the Department of History.

Departmental Programs in History for 2010

Spring Break 2012 - Dawn Marsh will take a group from her HIST 395 course "Sovereign Nations of the Southwest" to vist Native American Reservation, tribal governments, hostoric and sacred sites, and casinos of the southwestern United States.  For more information contact her at dmarsh@purdue.edu.

Spring Break 2012 - Caroline Janney will take a group from her HIST 465 course "The Civil War and Reconstruction" to visit Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee to find out the truth behind one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles.  For more information contact her at cjanney@purdue.edu.

Professor John Larson will be traveling to Britain with a group of students during Maymester 2012 for HIST 450 - “The English Landscape: Integrating History, Horticulture & Landscape Architecture.”

Contact

The Study Abroad Programs Coordinator for History, Professor William Gray, welcomes student inquiries at wggray@purdue.edu.

A more comprehensive overview of programs approved for Purdue students is available from the Office of Programs for Study Abroad in Young Hall.